From Grocery Bags to a Growing Legacy: The McClary Family's 38-Year Love Affair with Frank'
A Supermarket at the Center of It All
Before it was a beloved dining institution, the building that houses Frank's today was Marlow's Supermarket, a fixture of Pawley's Island life, serving as the de facto town center for more than half a century. A place that acted as the home to the island's only phone, its only gas pump, all the grocery staples, and even as a sort of bank for the locals.
It was there, bagging groceries and pumping gas as a high school student in the late 1970s, that a young Salters McClary first became acquainted with Frank Marlow. What started as a summer job became something more lasting: a friendship that would eventually shape the entire trajectory of Salters' life — as well as his family to come.
A Leap of Faith, Built on Friendship
Salters and Elizabeth McClary married young, at 22. After convincing Elizabeth to move back to Pawley's Island in 1985, both took on different jobs way outside the realm of food and beverage. But when Frank Marlow—who mentored Salters for years, first as a grocer and then as a friend—reached 65 and decided it was time to retire, Salters saw an opportunity rooted in something deeper than ambition.
He approached him about leasing the building, and on August 1, 1988, Frank's Restaurant opened its doors — named, simply and affectionately, for the man who started it all.
"We wanted to honor him," Elizabeth explained, and the name has carried that honor for more than three decades since.
In those early days, Salters and Elizabeth were figuring it out as they went. Pierce Culliton came on as Executive Chef and would remain a cornerstone of the kitchen until his own retirement at 65 — though even in retirement, he still comes around to make desserts and shuck oysters, because some things are harder to walk away from than others.
By 1992, the McClarys expanded, taking over the house behind the restaurant where Frank Marlow's mother once lived and transforming it into Frank's Outback — a second, more casual dining space that extended the Frank's experience without diluting it.
A Family Raised in Hospitality
As the business grew, so did the McClary family. When the kids started arriving, Salters and Elizabeth made a practical and significant decision: they shifted Frank's to dinner service only, which it remains today.
The restaurant wasn't just a business — it was the backdrop of their family life. The children grew up in it, learning the rhythms of hospitality the way other kids learn to ride bikes. For years, each of the three daughters played various roles within the restaurants. While they’ve grown and branched into their families— with three grandsons and a granddaughter in the mix —the whole extended McClary family is still woven together the way families who build something real tend to be: working alongside each other, sharing meals, and spending time together.
Still to this day, their youngest and her husband help manage Frank’s and their middle daughter is involved with private events.
The Next Generation Takes Shape: 631 on Front
In June 2024, Leldon, the McClary’s eldest daughter, and her husband opened 631 Frank’s on Front in nearby Georgetown, a waterfront restaurant that reflects the same family ethos while establishing its own identity. Open Wednesday through Saturday for both lunch and dinner, the space is anchored by a large covered deck overlooking the Sampit River, where most guests gather for an experience that feels both easygoing and elevated.
Behind the bar, cocktails are built from scratch and often highlight local ingredients — from blueberries sourced at Blue Truck Organics to honey infused with Hopsewee Tea. In the kitchen, Chef Lenny Edwards leads a menu that blends daily creativity with approachable favorites, including a 4-ounce filet with mashed potatoes and crispy onions, Thai shrimp curry made with local shrimp from Seven Seas Seafood, and a tuna poke stack layered with forbidden rice, avocado, and cucumber.
While 631 shares DNA with Frank’s, it operates independently, owned and run by the next generation rather than the original founders. It’s less a replica and more a reflection, proof that the McClary approach to hospitality can evolve while still feeling deeply familiar.
A Place That Holds Time and Traditions
What's perhaps most remarkable about Frank’s legacy is how it has managed to evolve without losing itself. The menu has moved with the times, embracing local sourcing, regional flavors, and shifting food trends over the decades. Executive Chef Charif Arabe—who joined Frank’s in 2023—and the team made sure of that.
Local shrimp, local growers, and seasonal ingredients have long been part of the Frank's identity. In the off-season, the restaurant hosts wine dinners that have become their own kind of community tradition. The McClary family is deeply embedded in Pawley's Island civic life — supporting galas, contributing to causes like the St. Francis Animal Shelter, and showing up the way a true community institution should.
But some things simply cannot change. The "Legacy Grouper" — a pan-fried grouper dish that has been on the menu since the beginning — is one of them. The story goes that when the McClarys once considered quietly updating or replacing it, the regulars made their feelings known in no uncertain terms. The grouper stayed. It will likely outlast all of us.
And the regulars themselves tell the larger story. The people who were bussing tables at Frank's in 1988 are now bringing their own children in for dinner — and in some cases, their grandchildren. The restaurant has become a site of living memory for an entire community, a place where Pawley's Island measures its own passage of time.
Frank Marlow built a gathering place, and the McClary’s honored that legacy by building another one. Today, that spirit stretches a little farther down the coast — from a former supermarket in Pawley's Island to a riverfront deck in Georgetown — carried forward by the same family, just in new ways.